Cash would facilitate the deal. Soriano is owed about $7 million for the rest of this year and then $18 million in the final year of his eight-year, $136 millon contract next year. The Yankees will again take advantage of the luxury-tax loophole that allowed them to add Vernon Wells from the Angels and still aid their chances of coming in under the tax threshold next year.

Soriano can’t help but improve the Yankees; their right-handed batters have hit a pathetic .221/.284/.309 with 24 homers in 1,438 at-bats this season. Soriano has 17 homers to go along with a .256/.286/.471 line in 359 at-bats. The plan could be for Soriano to play left field now and then take over as the primary DH once Curtis Granderson comes off the disabled list. Travis Hafner, who is hitting .183 in 197 at-bats since April 28, could be released when that happens.

At 37, Soriano isn’t nearly the same player he was in his first go with the Yankees. In 2002, his second full season, he hit .300 with 39 homers and 41 steals, leading the AL with 128 runs scored. In 2003, he hit .290 with 38 homers and 35 steals. That winter, the Yankees traded him to the Rangers in the Alex Rodriguez deal. Soriano went to the All-Star Game five more times afterwards, but that streak concluded in 2008 and he hasn’t been back since. Now in his 15th season, Soriano is a lifetime .273/.321/.504 hitter with 389 homers and 1,086 RBI.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher has reversed course and will continue to pay minor leaguers. Fisher tells Slusser, “I concluded I made a mistake.” He said he is also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees.

The A’s decided in late May to stop paying paying minor leaguers as of June 1, which was the earliest date on which any club could do so after an MLB-wide agreement to pay minor leaguers through May 31 expired. In the event, the A’s were the only team to stop paying the $400/week stipends to players before the end of June. Some teams, notable the Royals and Twins, promised to keep the payments up through August 31, which is when the minor league season would’ve ended. The Washington Nationals decided to lop off $100 of the stipends last week but, after a day’s worth of blowback from the media and fans, reversed course themselves.

An @sfchronicle exclusive: A's owner John Fisher reverses course, apologizes: team will pay minor-leaguers; "I concluded I made a mistake," he tells me. He's also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees: https://t.co/8HUBkFAaBx)